David Somers writes

Dear friends,

I'm having a bit of a Willy Wonka moment and feeling quite like Charlie Bucket. Late Sunday night I solved a sort of visual riddle in a book called a Treasure's Trove," a book for kids and adults that has a real treasure hunt for 12 Jewels worth a total of $1 million dollars. You may have seen this on the Today show. Anyway, we just found the 12th token! It can be redeemed for a jewel encrusted beetle valued at over $50K or a lesser amount of cash.

The riddle spelled out the name of an Overlook within the Badlands National Park. I immediately called Mark Moeglein, my best friend from Harvey Mudd days. His daughter Katie is my goddaughter and I had given her a copy of the book and we had all been doing the puzzles with the kids. Mark is lives in Oregon and I'm in Boston. We both dropped everything and each raced about 1800 miles from opposite coasts (I drove 560 miles in 7 1/2 hours after my flights). By late Monday night we were both in Wall, S.D. By 1am (MDT) Tuesday morning we were at the White River Overlook in the Badlands and quickly found the specific tree that we were looking for. After 15 minutes of searching from the ground with flashlights and lanterns, Mark finally climbed the tree and spotted the token in a knothole 8 ft off the ground.

It is quite amazing that decoding 15 characters (BADLANDSWROVRLK) out of a children's book set us off on this little adventure. It is even more amazing that we pulled it off without a hitch. We knew exactly which tree to search 1800 miles away. Incredible!

I'm not sure what happens next. The first token was redeemed on the Today show, but the prizes are not scheduled to be awarded until the end of 2007. Oddly enough, the film rights to the story were purchased by Paramount and assigned to Tom Cruise's production company Cruise/Wagner. Film or no film, Mark and I have shared a tremendous adventure together, one that we hope will inspire our kids as well.

We're downright giddy at the moment. Please feel free to sing along. either choose Charlie Bucket "I've got a golden token..." or Bruce Springsteen "these Badlands started treating us good, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...."

-david

Grave Creek Mound [1833]

From:

AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES

AND

DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST

BEING AN EXHIBITION OF THE EVIDENCE

THAT AN ANCIENT POPULATION OF PARTIALLY CIVILIZED NATIONS DIFFERING ENTIRELY FROM THOSE OF THE PRESENT INDIANS PEOPLED AMERICA MANY CENTURIES BEFORE ITS DISCOVERY BY COLUMBUS, AND INQUIRIES INTO THEIR ORIGIN,

WITH A

COPIOUS DESCRIPTION

OF MANY OF THEIR STUPENDOUS WORKS, NOW IN RUINS, WITH OBJECTIONS CONCERNING WHAT MAY HAVE BECOME OF THEM.

***
By
Josiah Priest (1788-1851)
(1st ed.: Albany, 1833, 2nd ed 1834)

link

Tumuli are very common on the river Ohio, from its utmost sources to its mouth, although on the Monongahela, they are few, and comparatively small, but increase in number and size, as we descend towards the mouth of that stream at Pittsburgh, where the Ohio begins; after this they are still more numerous and of greater dimensions, till we arrive at Grave creek, below Wheeling. At this place, situated between two creeks, which run into the Ohio, a little way from the river, is one of the most extraordinary and august monuments of antiquity, of the mound description. Its circumference at its base, is fifty-six rods, its perpendicular height ninety feet, its top seven rods and eight feet in circumference. The centre at the summit, appears to have sunk several feet, so as to form a kind of amphitheatre. The rim enclosing this concavity is seven or eight feet in thickness; on the south side, in the edge of this rim, stands a large beech tree, the bark of which is marked with the initials of a great number of visitants.L

[I scavenged for contemporaneous images of Grave Creek Mound and put together this slideshow].